


Clicked, Catfished

by TectonicPlatez



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Online Dating, Catfish - Freeform, F/M, Internet, Online Dating, Online Friendship, Online Relationship, Online Romance, Road Trips, Tomboy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-05-04 00:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5313395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TectonicPlatez/pseuds/TectonicPlatez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy finds himself falling for a complete stranger online. Clarisse just wants a friend...well, a little more than that. When Percy makes a surprise visit to California, the truth hurts. Can he learn to forgive Clarisse for her lies? And can he help her see that she never needed them? AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Operation 'Fake Everything'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TeenTalk is the hottest social media site for teenagers, and it's drawing Percy and Clarisse in.

**  
**

Okay, okay, I admit it.

I lied.

Yeah it's true. I lied, alright?

About everything.

Well... _almost_ everything. But I guess that doesn't matter now.

I mean...I never thought it would go as far as it _did_ , y'know? I thought I could keep it under wraps. I thought that no one would ever find out!

But you already guessed it.

Yeah, I was wrong.

About _everything_.

* * *

_**(SOMEWHERE IN SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA)** _

"Clarisse! Come downstairs. We need to have a talk," a female voice called from downstairs.

Clarisse sighed heavily, her brows furrowing once more and hardening the already prominent frown line on her forehead. She ignored the calls of her mother, instead choosing to power on her laptop.

She could feel a bit of the tension leave her body as the laptop's screen brightened. Immediately, she began surfing the Internet, looking for the website that she overheard Piper, a girl at school, talking about.

It popped up with bright, flashy colors and effects.

The largest, hottest, most populated teenage social networking site of the year, TeenTalk. Countless girls and guys at school had already set up accounts and profiles, showing off their best features for users across the nation. Some used it to find new friends, some used it to build reputation, but most used it for dating.

Clarisse had thought the site was full of crap, including everyone using it.

Who made friends online? Psh.

But then she had seen _Piper_.

Piper had met a guy on TeenTalk named Jason a while back, and not only had they fallen for each other online, but they actually met up and began dating. In real life! Clarisse could hardly believe it. And as tough as she liked to portray herself, she couldn't deny that boys were on her radar this year.

Unlike her cootie-avoiding middle school days, nowadays she found herself **_really_** liking boys.

The problem was that none of the boys at her school liked her back. Whatever, right? She figured it wouldn't hurt to expand her horizons, even if that meant logging onto TeenTalk.

And so, she had jumped on the bandwagon with everyone else.

Today was a bit different, though.

Clarisse had already set up a TeenTalk account months ago. She had put up her own pictures, and she had been truthful about everything about herself. Hobbies, sports, it all went down. She was known for being painfully honest, brutally, almost.

But there had been a problem.

Unlike the other girls at school, Clarisse hadn't received a single invite. No friend requests. Not even a message.

At first she thought she had been doing something wrong. She tried going onto other people's accounts, maybe finding others who had the same hobbies as her. She had sent out requests, and with much hesitation, short and shy messages inviting other teens to come to her profile and chat it up with her.

There had only been one response. Chris.

He had seemed nice enough. He liked sports like she did. He seemed tough like she was. And she couldn't deny that she liked his cute Hispanic curls and those warm brown eyes he had.

But he didn't like her back.

She hadn't realized at first. He had been nice enough, chatting online with her sometimes after school. Girls flooded Chris's profile with comments and requests, so Clarisse felt like she was doing something right when he would chat with only _her_.

But then he had asked for the video chat.

She hadn't seen a problem. She had a webcam on her laptop, and she wasn't afraid to show herself. This would be a piece of cake, no doubt!

Only, when she had first connected the video chat, she could see Chris and his large muscles up close, his chiseled jaw, his handsome features… but she could see something else, too. She could see his confusion, his regret. He looked immediately uncomfortable and seemed to want to glance everywhere but his computer screen. Clarisse felt her stomach clench. What was wrong?

"You're…" Chris had begun slowly over the video chat, his voice coming out thick, "you're just like the profile picture. I thought-I thought that you might have looked different, maybe. I was hoping."

Clarisse felt her heart sink through the floor.

He was no different from the other kids at school.

He didn't like the way she looked.

And it was only confirmed later when she had tried following up with him the next day. She sent him a private message, demanding to know why he wasn't answering her anymore.

His answer?

_-Srry Clarisse. Don't get me wrong, I like tough girls. I like how u say wat ur rlly thinking and u don't play games wit ppl. I like how ur confident n all, and I dig that u play sports, but…ur just too masculine for me. U act like a dude, Clarisse. U kinda look like one, even. I just don't dig girls like u.-_

Clarisse had heard these things before. She was no stranger. Tomboy, butch, hyper-masculine, she had heard them all. Girls would say it behind her back, boys would say it to her face. Until she beat them all to a pulp, that is.

And the thing was, she hadn't _cared_ before.

But Chris. She had _**really**_ liked Chris. If something like this could push him away, something as simple as her appearance…she couldn't ignore it anymore.

Fine.

If guys didn't like her appearance, she would fake it.

Finding a girl to pretend to be had been hard. At her school, many of the girls were _too_ pretty, almost to the point of being unbelievable, and Clarisse didn't want to pick someone who looked too girly or too unbelievable. Drew Tanaka? No, too prissy, too catty. Silena Beauregard? No, too beautiful, too supermodel-looking. Annabeth Chase?

Annabeth…

She was gorgeous, but in a 'I-can-handle-myself' kind of way. She was blonde with sharp, yet sexy gray eyes, and had a slender body with gratuitous curves and plenty of boobage. She played sports, like Clarisse. She could pull off ratty jeans and converse, but she could also pull off skin-tight dresses and heels. Her hands were slightly calloused, but her nails were usually painted and she smelled like heaven most of the time.

Boys tripped over themselves to get her. She was valedictorian, sociable, could rock a pair of heels, and sweet talk her way into a concert.

…But Clarisse?

She was bulky and built. Not exactly ugly, but not exactly gorgeous either. Her curves were only just coming in, but she was grateful for at least that. She had nice hips, and a buxom chest, but her shoulders were extremely broad and her muscles were like wrought iron. She had a strong, pronounced jaw and hard eyes. Her signature expression was 'bitch-don't-mess-with-me', and her hands were calloused and hard from beating up enemies and playing basketball after school. She was five foot nine in height and taller than most of the guys in her class.

Boys tripped over themselves to get out of her way. She was lucky to get straight C's, unapproachable, could hit four home-runs in a row, and intimidate her way into a concert.

So, yeah. Annabeth was the one.

She was everything that Clarisse wasn't.

In other words, the perfect candidate.

And so during her free time, Clarisse had done a sweep of Annabeth's other social networking profiles. She saved pictures and videos of Annabeth, amongst other things.

Online, they were friends and had access to each other's profiles. In real life, they were casual acquaintances. They had played on the same volleyball and softball teams in elementary school. Clarisse didn't have much of a problem with Annabeth. The girl didn't talk about people behind their backs and she could hold her own in a fight.

After Clarisse had saved all of Annabeth's pictures from her other profiles, including a few videos of the girl, Clarisse deleted her old TeenTalk account.

Now, all she had to do was make the new, fake profile.

Today.

Today was the day she would do it.

Clarisse slowly put her hands over her keyboard, ready to begin a new, falsified, online profile, ready to-

"Clarisse! Get down here NOW, young lady," a different voice boomed. This one was deeper, grittier, and much more angry.

Clarisse fumed, pushing out of her chair harshly.

Couldn't her parents get off her back for five seconds?

She flew down the stairs, eager to speed up the conversation with her parents and get back to the computer. What did they want _anyways_?

"Clarisse," her mother began with a worried tone, "the school called a few hours ago. They told us something…disappointing."

Clarisse's brow furrowed once more as she dwelled on her mother's words. Her school called? Why? It was the weekend. It wasn't like she had ditched or anything. What had she done lately to get her into any trouble…?

Her muscled dad stepped up, clearing up her confusion.

"You beat up two kids this month. Nancy Bobafit's going to need dental repairs and the Octo-whatever kid needs a wrist brace. All I want to say is...job well done, no one messes with my baby girl."

Clarisse grinned at that, but her mom's expression hardened.

"No, Ares, we are _not_ condoning this…this violent behavior! Why would you hurt your classmates anyway?"

Clarisse stood stony-faced for a few moments. She was hesitant to mention the multiple food items that had been launched into her hair by Nancy Bobafit, forcing her to wash her hair constantly. And then there was Octavian. She didn't want to tell her own parents that the boy had called her "butch" and "Clarisse the Female Bull" in front of other people.

She decided to reword things a bit.

"Nancy kept chucking stuff at me in class. She was asking for it. Octavian doesn't know how to shut his mouth. So I shut it for him."

Even though her father laughed heartily at her explanation, her mother was irritated.

"No Clarisse! You don't put your hands on people! Maybe you could get away with it in elementary school, but you're a high schooler now. You're nearly an adult! If you keep beating up everyone that looks at you the wrong way, you're going to be arrested and charged for it. Hell, even now, you can get sent to a juvenile detention facility. Why can't you act like other girls your age and leave people alone? It's unsightly for a girl to be seen beating people up, anyways."

Clarisse frowned and lowered her head respectfully.

There was a time she would have thought her mom was full of herself, but now, she understood. At this age, someone could easily accuse her of assault and call the cops on her. At this age, it was pretty stupid to get into fistfights.

She sighed quietly.

She used to like fighting people. Really, she did. And she didn't have a problem winning most of her fights or standing up for herself. She didn't even have a problem losing fights. The scars were fun to show off. But as the years slid by and her classmates began maturing, she realized that the name calling would never really stop, and fists weren't going to intimidate anyone anymore.

And that really sucked, because _now_ , people talked about her behind her back more than ever.

Clarisse wasn't stupid. Nancy was just an idiot, but she knew that Octavian wasn't. And he wasn't the only one who thought it was funny how unfeminine Clarisse was.

She had passed herds of girls at school that would silence themselves as she walked by, but then erupt into gossiping pigeons when they thought she was out of earshot.

She heard them.

_"God, Clarisse is such a troll,"_

_"Can she get any bigger?"_

_"She should be on the football team, not the volleyball team."_

Clarisse didn't care much about any of that until it had been Chris was telling her.

Chris was the first guy that had actually made her feel… _feminine_. Every time they chatted online, her stomach would fill with fireworks and every time he 'lol'ed at a joke of hers or shared an intimate secret, she would blush. Chris was the first one to make her feel _okay_ with being vulnerable, with being girly. She _wanted_ to be girly for him.

But he didn't want her. He couldn't get past her rough exterior. That's why Clarisse needed someone else's look. She needed Annabeth's look.

"Clarisse?" Her mother demanded. "Are you _ **listening** _ to me?!"

Clarisse slowly nodded before giving out a low apology, looking away. The apology seemed to satisfy her mother and Clarisse was only sent away with the punishment of being grounded for a month. Clarisse shrugged. At least she wasn't getting expelled from school or something.

She raced back up the stairs to her bedroom, opening the door.

Her walls were somewhat covered in band posters, somewhat bare. Her dressers and cabinets were covered in sports trophies she had earned throughout the years. Volleyball, softball, basketball, wrestling, you name it, she had done it. Clarisse ignored their shining glory and sat at her computer desk, kicking aside a pair of old sneakers.

Now seated, she went back to the task at hand. Her old account was deleted, so…

**_-Would you like to create a TeenTalk account?-_ **

_'Yes'_ , Clarisse thought as she confirmed it through a simple click.

**_-Great! Before you meet other kids on the TeenTalk servers, what is your name?-_ **

Clarisse typed slowly, wondering whether or not she should go through with this.

_C-L-A-R-I-S-S-E_

Pretending to be someone else was…lame, to say the least. Still. She was tired of being herself and being…being… _lonely_.

_L-A_

It wouldn't hurt to see what it felt like being someone else for a while, right?

_R-U-E_

_**-Your name is 'Clarisse La Rue'! Would you like to put up your profile picture now?-** _

After a series of clicks, Annabeth's face stared back at through the screen, the picture of the blonde girl situated underneath Clarisse's name.

_**-Your account is complete! Enjoy TeenTalk!-** _

Clarisse let out a little breath. That had been easier than she had expected.

The deed was done.

* * *

**_(SOMEWHERE IN NEW YORK CITY...)_ **

"Percy, yo! Are you done yet?"

Percy huffed, chucking a pillow at his boisterous friends sitting on his bed.

"Shut up, guys. You _know_ I'm dyslexic, give me a second. The words on this site are really small."

Will Solace dodged the pillow so that Grover Underwood could catch it, launching the soft item back at their raven haired friend.

"Then make them BIGGER, doofus," Will shot back, leaning back into the blue blankets.

Percy ignored them and continued clicking through the TeenTalk profile creation, steadily making his own.

" ** _Why_** am I doing this, again?" He asked the others.

"Because man," Grover explained, leaning over Percy's shoulder, "this site is the next big thing. Everyone's on it. Everyone's talking about it. And the best part? It's for kids _our_ age. No annoying parents or aunts and uncles checking what you post. Besides, all the kids in the country are on it. Y'know what that means?"

Percy shrugged, looking through his old pictures to see which one would look best for his profile.

"I dunno." He murmured, trying to focus on the pictures. He really didn't see the point of this. He didn't spend a lot of time on his computer anyways.

"No, don't pick that picture," Will advised, leaning over Percy's other shoulder, "you look like a major douche. Pick THAT one. Yeah, that."

"Perce'," Grover continued, "it means that girls are on this site. Girls our age, y'know?"

"And talent scouts," Will added, "you should mention your swimming records somewhere. Or maybe post a pic of you with that last state championship trophy."

Percy bit his lip, clicking the profile into creation.

"Guys, I don't…I don't think I really _need_ a website to make friends or meet girls."

" **O- _HO_** ," Will shouted, standing up in Percy's bed, "look at this guy! _'I don't need a website to meet girls'_. Well, we are WELL aware of that, swim team champion, Adonis of our highschool-"

Percy laughed loudly, launching himself at Will. The two of them began mock-brawling. Grover quickly caught his best friend's laptop before it fell off the bed and moved it to the desk. He nodded approvingly at Percy's account.

It was pretty simple. The profile picture was a nice, sunny picture of Percy playing volleyball at the beach with some other friends. It zoomed in on him, the sand visible on his arms and legs, a bright smile adorning his face as he looked away from the camera, at a friend, probably.

The profile itself was also simple. Grover went in and edited quite a few spelling mistakes for his friend, well aware of Percy's dyslexia. The biography Percy had typed was simple and short, telling people of his likes and dislikes. He had typed that the only reason he was on TeenTalk was _'because my friends forced me to, and meeting new people, I guess'_.

"Percy, make sure you type slower when you chat with people on this thing. You mess up words when you go too fast. You don't misspell stuff when you type slow." Grover shouted over his shoulder before returning back to the screen.

Percy nodded, before untangling himself from Will and walking over. "…What are you doing, Grover?"

"Messaging people," Grover answered, not missing a beat.

Percy looked confused. "Why? I don't know any of them-"

Will smiled cheekily, strutting over.

"Girls, man. That's how you _get_ to know them. You gotta' message them."

Percy's brow furrowed as he saw Grover about to message a 'girl' that looked more like a fifty year old man in disguise.

"Wait- stop man, _not_ her," Percy called out, trying to grab the laptop out of Grover's hands.

Grover slapped his hand away and pulled up a chair, moving himself over and motioning for Percy to sit down in front of the computer.

" _Relax_ , bro! Here, let's do this; you scroll through this list of new users, and point out the ones you'd like to talk to. I'll send them invites, okay?"

Percy nodded, visibly relaxing. He slowly scrolled through the list of new users, pointing out a few girls, a few guys. Grover sent them invites to Percy's profile accordingly.

A ping sounded out of the laptop and Will's jaw dropped.

"THIRTY notifications? You JUST made this account like, twenty seconds ago! Damn, you're too popular for your own good. What did they say?"

Percy clicked the notification icon and scrolled through all the small messages that other teenage users sent to his account. Percy was a bit amazed, himself. These people were really fast. He began reading the messages:

_-Omg ur rlly cute, PM me kay?-_

_-Ur hot. PM!-_

_-U gay, bro? Cuz I am. PM.-_

_-You play volleyball too? Do you play fr ur school's team? Bulldogs from Rebbert County? U guys creamed us this season :( -_

_-Get in my pants u fckin beast-_

Percy's jaw dropped slightly, but Grover and Will were already high-fiving one another.

"Dude! They love you! I didn't get near as many notifications when I made _my_ profile! And so fast, too! Look, look, _this_ chick is from Puerto Rico. Friggen' _Puerto Rico_!" Will Solace was practically cheering before the screen, admiring Percy's online popularity.

Grover left the notifications page and continued scrolling through the list of new users. It was only a few seconds before Percy slapped a hand over his friend's chest.

"Wait a minute, Grover. Scroll back up."

Grover did as was told, and Connor gave out a low whistle as he saw the girl that Percy had been pointing out.

"Her? Yeah…she's pretty cute."

"Clarisse…La Rue," Percy read out loud as he gazed at the profile picture. A beautiful blonde girl smiled back through the picture, her bright eyes shining and intense.

Yeah. She _was_ pretty cute.

"Grover, invite her," Percy commanded, not taking his eyes off the screen. As his friends continued gazing and admiring other users, Percy sat back, thinking.

La Rue. Sounded French. She was on the volleyball team at her high school. She liked…what was it…? Basketball and wrestling…kind of intense for a girl of her size, but whatever…

She seemed pretty cool.

"Hey, hey," Grover continued. "This one, look at this one! Her name's Juniper."

Percy gave his friend an affirming smile, but wasn't really paying attention to the girl. He was too enthralled by the grey-eyed blonde he had seen just moments before.

Hm.

Maybe this online thing wouldn't be so bad, after all.


	2. To Lie, Or Not To Lie?

"Clarisse, head in the game! Stay focused!"

The tough brunette shook off some of the gleaming drops on her temple, focusing. She narrowed her sight at the other girl racing down the court, bouncing the bright orange basketball off the floorboards. The big tournament was in a few months, but it was hard to focus on today's game, much less anything else in the past couple of weeks.

She couldn't help but think of him, these days.

_'He's such a dork...I wonder what he's doing right now…? At school, duh… I wonder what his school's like. I bet their basketball team sucks. Well, unless he's on it. He did say he was pretty good, and…I believe him, weirdly. He's like me, kinda' . Likes to move around. He told last Tuesday that he was on a swim team. Sounded pretty pansy, until he told me about their training. I mean, I'm fit, but there's no way I'd finish that many laps in a pool-'_

'CLARISSE!''

Her train of thought broke as she saw the opposing team's player head for their hoop, raising the ball for a jumpshot. Clarisse sped in front of the hoop, blocking the way.

Instead of swiping the ball like she had been trained to, Clarisse unthinkingly swung her arm out, knocking the other girl off her feet and hard onto the linoleum.

" _Aah!"_ the fallen girl shouted, hitting the ground with a loud thud before going still.

The game around her slowed down, players staring at the fallen girl.

"Oops." Clarisse blurted into the silence.

_'Honestly, that had been instinct.'_

She vaguely felt the need to apologize, but the other girl's unconsciousness was too important for anything else to be heard. The opposing team ran over, crowding their player on the floor.

"Oh my god, Megan!"

"Someone get her tongue back in her mouth..."

"Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, I swear!"

"Does anyone know CPR?"

Pfft. Whatever. They all needed to suck it up. It's not like she hit concrete. Wood absorbs shock, right? Huh. Maybe if she'd paid attention in physics-

"Goddamnit, Clarisse!" Her coach shrieked, forgetting about the auditorium full of parents and teachers. The girl tended to make him act slightly more erratic than usual. She watched calmly as he ran up the side of the court with a purple face. "That's the fourth foul you've gotten us today! Bench. NOW."

Clarisse stopped sneering at the girl on the floor, swiveling a glare to the older man. "The bench? You can't bench _me_. I'm the best shot on the whole team!"

Some of her other teammates snorted at that remark. She ignored them. As _if_ they didn't know she was the best on their team! They could get as upset as they wanted, but their disdain wouldn't change her talent.

The coach shook his head and pointed towards the sidelines.

"Coach, I can foul five times before getting benched, those are the rul-"

"And by god, Clarisse, you **will** foul those five times! You always do!"

Clarisse huffed, crossing her arms and staring back defiantly.

"Either bench yourself or you're off the team!"

Growling lowly, she stalked off the court. The threat didn't scare her. She had been kicked off plenty of teams before, but she really liked this basketball team. They went up against other schools that were actually pretty good, giving Clarisse worthy opponents on the court.

The visiting team's fans crowed in approval as they watched Clarisse slink off the court, glad to be rid of the player that was killing their scores.

Clarisse watched the game from the bench the rest of the game.

Digging her hands through her hair, she gazed off listlessly.

This always happened. Not too many people could take the heat when she was in the game. Ninety percent of the reason why her ass hit the bench was because of broken limbs, bruises, and pansy players. Even from the bench, she judged and critiqued the ferocity of everyone on court.

_'Huh, redhead over there is trying to trip people. Nice….Aw, what is she DOING? She should have punched that snotty, little, ball-stealing-'_

When her team finally scored the winning point, she darted into the locker rooms, ready to go home. Fuck this.

The other girls began crowding in the locker room a little while after, congratulating one another and making plans for a post-game party. Some meet up that involved ice cream and guys from their school, other schools. Clarisse got the hint that she wasn't invited when they blatantly left her out of the conversation.

Her phone beeped.

TeenTalk alerting her of another message from Percy.

She leaned against the lockers, a smile gracing her face as she swiftly messaged him back.

" _Who'_ re you texting, Clarisse?" Drew asked from across the locker room, a smirk sliding onto her face. "A boy?"

A few girls on the team that had overheard began to coo and jeer lightly. Clarisse tried to hide the phone away, frowning.

"Mind your own business, Drew!" she snarled over the noisy girls, turning away from them all. "We don't all text guys every waking moment of our lives like you do." That earned a few laughs throughout the crowd of girls. Clarisse smiled. Her teammates and her weren't close, but she did admire them.

Drew scoffed at that, turning away from the room to send her own message on a cell phone. Clarisse hadn't lied. Everyone already knew that she was a nonstop textaholic, mostly flirting with boys and posting selfies.

"Whatever, La Rue. It's not like a boy would text _you_ anyways."

A series of "oooh" lifted through the room, girls nervously chuckling. Clarisse shrugged, letting the implied insult roll off her back.

She glanced at Drew's figure, biting her lip. The asian girl was lithe and long haired, very feminine. The guys went crazy over her. Clarissed turned away. It wasn't like she hated Drew or anything. Drew was a good player and decent at trash talking. She just got a little too nosy for her own good. And she made Clarisse feel like she wasn't worthy of being called a girl, sometimes.

She pulled her phone back out. Drew could go kick rocks, for all she cared.

A person bumped into her suddenly, knocking her into the hard locker. The phone slipped out of her hands.

The brunette swiveled around, ready to knock lights out. The girls on the team all knew better than to mess with... _oh_.

Annabeth.

"Sorry," the blonde girl mumbled past the hair band in her mouth, smoothing her blonde locks back into a ponytail, "-was an accident."

Annabeth was leaning a bit too close, her grey eyes curiously swiveling from the phone on the floor to Clarisse. She squinted a bit as they glanced over she saw the cover of the phone.

_'Wait... that picture...is that…?'_

Clarisse quickly grabbed the device, shutting the phone off and putting it in her pocket. She eyed the blonde.

Normally, the tough girl would have cussed and snarled and done everything possible to intimidate the offender, but Annabeth Chase had always made her think twice. She was too smart for intimidation. She could probably take Clarisse in a fight, outwitting her somehow.

Clarisse felt strange around her. Lately, seeing Annabeth had made her sweat like a sinner in church. She knew that Annabeth could read people like an open book and had probably been able to sense Clarisse being more cautious around her than usual. Annabeth had been pushing their near-nonexistent relationship's boundaries lately, trying to see what was up with the larger girl. A light, well-aimed brushing of hands, random questions, borrowing hair ties and clips, Annabeth was talking far more to Clarisse than she ever had their entire time in high school, and Clarisse knew she was only doing it to find out what Clarisse was hiding.

She shook her head slowly, turning her back on the other girl. "S'alright."

Annabeth stared for a moment longer, her long fingers slowing in her hair. Clarisse could almost feel the grey eyes boring into her back.

Silently, Annabeth walked away.

* * *

Clarisse sat at the old bus stop near school, waiting.

Her mother was at work and her dad was at the gun club. There was no one could give her a ride home.

She didn't even bother asking her teammates for a carpool, because even if she could scare them into saying yes, she didn't want to sit through a long and awkward car ride for the sake of escaping public transport. Besides, she was strong, she could handle it! She sincerely hoped some crazy person or sceevy teenager tried to give her trouble today. She needed a good fight!

Huffing tiredly, she readjusted the sports bag on her shoulder.

Today had been a long day.

Her phone buzzed once more, and she whipped it out, glancing at the screen. She couldn't help but let a small smile slip past her lips.

_**From Percy J** : how did the game go?_

Clarisse tapped her foot nervously, swirling a messy hair strand around her finger. When her finger brushed her face and she realized what her hands were doing, she quickly whipped them away, replacing the smile with a scowl.

_**From Clarisse La Rue** : It sucked. I got benched._

It was only a few moments before the buzzing sound returned.

_**Percy J** : why_

Her brows knit together.

 _ **From Clarisse La Rue**_ : _I got too many fouls for knocking girls over._

_**Percy J** : haha. what were you knocking them over for?_

_**Clarisse La Rue** : They were in my way._

_**Percy J** : of course they were : ) seems like a tough thing to do for a girl your size._

_**Clarisse La Rue** : I'm pretty tough. And how do you know my size?_

_**Percy J** : your profile pic duh_

Clarisse snorted. Yeah, as if he knew her size! From an online profile picture that wasn't even her true picture to begin with? How could he be so naive?

Besides, the girl she was impersonating may have been small, but she wasn't weak. Annabeth was thinner than most, but her muscles weren't a secret and neither was her strength.

_**Clarisse La Rue** : I could be the size of Godzilla, you don't know. Pictures lie._

_**Percy J** : i'm pretty sure you're not the size of a building. And you don't seem like a liar._

Clarisse paused for a long time, biting her lip. She sighed slowly.

_**Percy J** : you wouldn't lie to me right_

Fingers twitched over her phone buttons. _  
_

_**Percy J** : you there?_

A tight, nasty feeling swelled inside as Clarisse replied.

_**Clarisse La Rue** : Still here, dork. And no, I would never lie to you. Promise._

* * *

_**(SOMEWHERE IN NEW YORK CITY...)** _

Percy smiled, hiding his phone underneath the desk. As the teacher droned on, he checked his latest message.

_**From Clarisse La Rue** : How are you texting in class right now without getting caught?_

Percy smirked at the picture of the blonde girl staring back from his phone screen. Of course he wasn't going to get caught.

_**From Percy J** : no big deal. Teacher never pays attention. Besides i'd rather be talking to you right now._

It was the truth. Ever since Clarisse had added him four months ago, he'd been fascinated with her. She seemed really cool and knew about a lot of stuff he didn't think most girls knew about. They had messaged for hours about wars they learned in school the other day, and whether boxing or mixed martial arts was better. Her messages never held any double meanings or hidden agendas, she was always straightforward and honest with him. That was one of the things he liked the most about her. There was no guessing, there were no stupid mind games, just her.

It was a few moments before another message popped up.

_**Clarisse La Rue** : Wow. I kinda like talking to you too._

_**Percy J** : "kinda"?_

_**Clarisse La Rue** : I really really like talking to you. Happy?_

Percy couldn't contain his grin. He was feeling better than he had in cute Californian girl was turning everything around for him. He had never been so comfortable talking to a girl like this before.

Girls were always confusing him, demanding things from him without telling him exactly what they wanted. Sure, Clarisse teased and jibed, but she never beat around the bush. She wasn't afraid to call him out when he said something dumb or tease him. She never pretended to laugh at his jokes if they weren't funny. But she was always there to listen.

It was refreshing, especially for a guy like him. Girls seemed drawn to him like ants to honey, but they always made him nervous and he always ended up saying something utterly stupid.

On TeenTalk, with Clarisse, he could think about what he wanted to say before sending it. He wasn't put on the spot. Sure, he misspelled a few things. But she knew about his dyslexia. She already knew a lot of things about him, and he knew things about her.

He looked at her profile picture again, the bright smile, blonde hair, and blue eyes gleaming back at him.

_**Percy J** : yeah. I'm happy._

* * *

"So TeenTalk's working out for you, then?"

Percy hauled his backpack higher on his shoulders, gripping his swim bag tighter in the other arm. "What makes you say that?"

Grover smirked, nudging Percy with his shoulder. Will Solace nudged him from the other side, with a matching smile.

"Quit it. You guys see my hands full, you want me to drop this stuff all over the sidewalk for New York to see? Christ."

Will ignored him, continuing.

"You've been texting that blonde chick all day, man. During Mr. Dionysus's class, during gym, during lunch with the guys, man-you even texted her during swim practice. I would have never believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself. I bet every day when you get home, you log on the computer just to chat online with her"

Percy shrugged, not denying Grover's assumption. "She's cool."

"You like her?" Grover asked, his face glowing with curiousity.

Percy averted his eyes, staring straight ahead. "A little, yeah."

Will chuckled. "A _little_. Sure. Just be careful, man. It could still be some forty year old bum pretending to be a teenage girl. You don't want your heart to get broken by a bum, do you?"

Percy laughed, swinging his backpack at his buddy, who skillfully dodged it.

"Shut up! I'm not gonna' get my heart broken. And it's not a forty year old bum. I'm sure of it."

Will shrugged. "There's only one way to prove it."

Percy perked up. "What's that?"

"Nudes, bro-"

This time Percy's backpack connected with someone, that someone being Will. Grover chuckled at the two of them, nodding his head vigorously.

"Yeah, sure that'd prove it. Maybe she could write 'hi Percy, I'm not a catfish' on her butt in permanent marker? Don't be dumb, Will."

Percy tried to push away the images of a tan, blonde girl shimmying out of her clothes, aiming her camera phone at herself for him. The heat in his gut quickly branched up his neck and across his face.

Grover continued to scold the tall blonde. "Even if Percy went through with your dumbass plan, the girl he's talking to would get freaked out and block him."

"Or," Will insisted, "she might be into it! You don't know. Remember that cheerleader from freshman year? She sent those raunchy nudes to the band geeks and they got all over school? She wasn't even mad. Some girls like showing off a bit of skin."

Percy shook his head. "Whatever. I'm not asking that from her."

Will threw his hands up. "Fine you guys, it was a joke. It would prove it was a chick for sure, though."

"Nuh-uh," Grover shot back, "if Percy's really talking to a dude, they can 'tuck' away for the picture."

"Oh yeah, that's true."

"Tuck?" Percy asked, quirking a brow.

His jaw fell as his friends went on to explain exactly what 'tucking' online meant.

"Why do you guys even _know_ this stuff…" he mumbled, pulling out his phone to see if he had any more messages from Clarisse. "She's not a guy. I know it, okay?"

An unread message.

_**From Clarisse La Rue** : I wish you could've been there at my game today._

Percy grinned, thinking back. There had been countless times where he had wished the same thing. Sometimes he imagined what life would have been like had he and Clarisse not been born on opposite sides of the country. Would they have been friends in real life? Would she be as easy to talk to? Percy liked to think so.

_**From Percy J** : I wish I was there too. Bet you totally wiped the floor with the other team before getting benched_

_**Clarisse La Rue** : Damn straight! The janitor got to go home early because of me!_

_**Percy J** : LOL. Yeah, sure. Is there an after-game party?_

_**Clarisse La Rue** : I wouldn't know, I'm going home._

_**Percy J** : what? Cmon, go have some fun with the other girls._

_**Clarisse La Rue** : I'm kinda tired. They don't want me around anyways._

Percy paused at that. He recalled all the pictures he had seen on Clarisse's TeenTalk profile of her and her friends hanging out, having fun. She seemed pretty popular in the pictures, usually smiling and surrounded by other people? In the texts, she didn't seem that way. She seemed lonely. He bit his lip, replying.

_**Percy J** : why wouldn't they want you around?_

_**Clarisse La Rue** : uh, theyre a good team and everything. Solid girls. Its just that we don't really get along._

_**Percy J** : why not? I get along with you just fine_

_**Clarisse La Rue** : You're different from everyone else._

_**Percy J** : yeah?_

_**Clarisse La Rue** : Yeah._

* * *

Clarisse paused before continuing. She wasn't the type to get mushy like this, but Percy struck something in her that made her want...to connect with someone.

_**Clarisse La Rue** : I can't talk to anyone else like I can talk to you...I won't. I really wish you had been there today._

_**Percy J** : I would go to all of your games if I could, Clarisse._

Clarisse shivered a bit, though it wasn't cold at the bus stop. She bit her lip, fighting the feeling that pulsed through her and began building in her chest. Her eyes closed and she stilled.

This was so messed up. She had made this fake profile, and then what? There had been no plan.

She just wanted to be someone else for awhile.

She didn't want to trick some guy on the other side of the country and then...lead him on. That's what this was. Lying. There was no denying it at this point.

Besides, four months ago, if it had been any other guy saying the stuff that Percy said to her, she would have gagged from the drama of it all.

With Percy, she didn't have to put up walls or defenses. She didn't have to scare or fight her way into respect or attention. Percy already gave her plenty of attention and respect through their texting and chatting. It wasn't like they _really_ knew each other and they would never meet face to face. That was that blanket of security that allowed Clarisse to send gushy messages to him.

Percy made her feel like Chris had. Better than Chris, even.

Her phone vibrated.

_**Percy J** : how are you getting home? Do you have a ride?_

_**Clarisse La Rue** : Nah, the 'rents are busy. I'm taking the bus._

_**Percy J** : I would give you a ride if I lived down there._

_**Clarisse La Rue** : Wait. You have a car? In downtown New York?_

_**Percy J** : haha yeah. I don't drive it down here, too crowded. But my buddies and I are gonna use it to go road tripping this summer. Dad said it was cool and everything._

_**Clarisse La Rue** : That's cool. Where will you guys go?_

_**Percy J** : Mm, west. Cross-the-country kind of thing. We might make California the destination, actually. Will wants to surf and Grover wants to check out Yosemite Park-_

The sudden sweat on Clarisse's palms allowed the device to slip past her fingers and clatter onto the sidewalk. She reached for it but the phone seemed to keep slipping through her trembling fingers.

 _'No,'_ she thought desperately. _'No, no, no…he **can't** come here.'_

The bus finally pulled up to the stop, honking. Clarisse swiped the phone off the ground in a vice grip and forced her panic down, scrambling onto the bus and into a seat.

_'This can't…he doesn't plan to…really?'_

Her phone buzzed again.

_**Percy J** : U there? We might not reach Cali, depends on the budget. I'm working over the school year to save up._

_**Percy J** : Clarisse...do you not want me to come to Cali?_

_**Percy J** : Clarisse?_

_**Clarisse La Rue** :...Sorry! I was just getting on the bus. You can go wherever you want._

_**Percy J** : I was thinking while my friends and I were in Cali, that maybe we could meet up, hang out._

Clarisse bit her nails, getting more and more unnerved by the second. Percy knew where she went to school. He knew what Annabeth looked like. The moment he saw her, he would know she had been lying to him. The very thought of it made her queasy.

_**Clarisse La Rue** : I don't know Percy. We haven't really known each other for too long._

_**Percy J** : we've chatted online for four months. we can get to know each other better. We can bring our friends if you don't like the idea of being alone._

_**Clarisse La Rue** : Look, Percy. I really like you, I do. I just don't think it's a good idea to meet up._

She could almost feel the tension rise as the seconds stretched on without Percy sending back a reply. Was he angry? She thought of a quick lie.

_**Clarisse La Rue** : My parents would get really mad if I met up with someone I met online._

Clarisse couldn't help but snort. Even _if_ that were true, it wouldn't stop her in real life. Her mom wouldn't get mad if she met a boy her age. She'd scream with joy, if anything. She had been pushing Clarisse for ages to find a boyfriend. And her father? He could care less about her dating habits or boys, as long as he didn't hear about them.

The guilt crawled through her when she saw Percy's reply.

_**Percy J** : Oh! I get it. Can you just not tell him about it?_

He just bought her lie completely. No questions, no doubts! She almost felt flattered by his utter faith in her, but the guilt chased everything else away.

_**Clarisse La Rue** : Of course I'd lie and not tell them. I'm afraid they might find out anyways. They would ground me forever, they're really strict about boys._

_**Percy J** : Alright. I don't want to get you in trouble or anything._

Clarisse sighed. Good, he wasn't coming to visit her. If he did, it would undoubtedly end in her lie being discovered. Dodged a massive bullet there.

* * *

Percy put his phone away, flopping back on his bed miserably. Will and Grover scooted out of his way, making room for their distraught friend.

"We're still going to California, aren't we?" Will asked hopefully, his eyes darting between Percy's text conversations and his sad face. "We can't just drop all of our plans because blondie's parents don't want us near her!"

Grover nodded. "Yeah man, I've wanted to see Yosemite for years."

Percy threw his arms over his eyes. "I don't know. I can't drive down there without visiting her. How can I go to California and NOT see her?"

Will's eyes widened. "You know that sounded like a romance novel, right? We don't _have_ to see her. Do you know how big California is? We can easily avoid her."

Percy frowned. "I know that. I didn't mean it that way. I meant that I can't get so close to the chance of being able to see her, and then pass it up without feeling terrible!"

Grover shook Percy. "Hey, here's an idea. Let's get her away from her parents somehow. Get her to go somewhere with her friends, and then we show up and surprise her."

Percy shook his head. "She'd get upset. You saw what she texted. She doesn't want to see me-"

"She didn't say that," Will interrupted, "she said that she didn't want to get in trouble. Grover's plan is fine. She won't get in trouble that way. What the 'rents don't know won't hurt them, right?"

Percy bit his lip, trying to make a choice. "She'll still get mad at me if I just show up like that after she said not to. Don't you think it would freak her out or something?

Grover continued. "Perce', she said so herself, she really likes you. You think she wouldn't be a little happy to see you? Especially without her parents finding out? And it's not like you would show up outside of her school or her bedroom window. It'd be her friends, our friends, y'know. Everything would be cool, just a bunch of teenagers."

Percy sighed, closing his eyes.

He could go along with that plan. He just didn't want to work so hard balancing school, swim team, and his job this entire year, only to meet Clarisse and get turned away. He really needed this to work. He really wanted to meet her in person, despite the short time they'd known each other. Would she be as easy to talk to standing before him like it was when they chatted online? Or would everything fall to awkward shambles?

His phone rang, a caller. Maybe she changed her mind? Did she want to talk to him? They had never actually called one another before. Now that he thought about it, he didn't even know what she sounded like.

"Hello?" Percy shushed his friends, listening intently for a soft, feminine voice.

" _HEY Jackson, you want extra hours at work?_ " a gruff voice commanded through the line. " _One of the servers didn't come in today. You can take their shift for extra pay if you want._ "

Percy grimaced in disappointment. "Sure, Dionysus. I'll be there in twenty."

" _Good_ ," came the response before clicking to an end.

Percy stood up, shrugging on a jacket and snagging his work apron from his closet. "I'll catch you guys later, yeah? Don't eat any of the pizza in the fridge."

"Sure," Will nodded before walking out the room.

"You really gotta' leave so soon, Perce? You're always working these days. Yesterday, the day before, and the day before that…Will and I don't even have to work that much at our jobs. You sure you don't want to help out at the clean up crew in Central Park with me? Or maybe assist at the hospital with Will?"

Percy shook his head and shrugged. "I've known Dionysus forever. He's a jerk, yeah, but he plays favorites and he kind of likes me. Especially since I've been picking up the slack around the bar. The pay's good."

Will returned with a plate of pizza, munching. "Your boss knows he shouldn't make a teenager work so many hours. You may as well be a full-timer, by now."

"Hey, is that my-? Will, I just said-"

Grover clutched Percy's shoulder and steered him back out of his room.

"Percy, relax. You'll see. This trip'll be amazing, man! Yosemite Park, surfing, and you can meet your online penpal. Everybody's happy!"


	3. Catfish Caught

By the time they had driven through Nebraska and entered Colorado Percy began to feel his eyelids slipping closed.

Veering a little too close to the railing too many times caused Grover to shoo Percy aside and take the wheel. Percy tiredly clambered into the passenger seat as Grover maneuvered himself into the driver's seat. Peering into the backseat with heavy eyes, Percy could see that Will was already dozing.

"I don't know why you guys are tired, the best part is coming!"

Percy yawned before leaning back in the old leather seat. "What part? There's nothing out here. Just flat land, mountains."

Grover chuckled. "Nature, dude. S'better than school."

Percy glanced out the window at the darkening skies and the Colorado mountains towering into them. The stars were starting to come out, shining like a sold out interstellar concert that only they could see. "Yeah. Way better than school."

Grover smiled, watching the road. "It was worth all those extra shifts and endless hours at work, huh?"

Percy grinned back and nodded in agreement. He _had_ worked tirelessly all that year. Swim team, work, school, remedial classes due to his dyslexia, doctor visits for the ADHD, it was almost as if summer would never come.

Now after all the sweat and frustration they were finally on their way! They had stopped through the Midwest and were crawling towards California steadily. For a city kid in love with the big city lights, Percy had never been so happy to be away from it. America truly was a beautiful place and Percy could almost see why Grover was so reverent to nature as they passed beautiful landscapes and sceneries.

Percy sighed, looking out the window at the night sky once more.

He could drive forever like this. He really could.

But more than that, he wanted to reach California.

He wanted to see Clarisse. All he had were online photos of bleach blonde hair and blue eyes and a few texts here and there. At this point, she was just as entrancing and mysterious as the starry skies.

Grover elbowed him. "Told you man! The show's just getting started. Would you look at that sky? See the constellations up there? Did you ever even know they were there to begin with?"

Percy shook his head, appreciating the view.

This wasn't even the best part of the road trip and it was amazing. The best part was in their destination.

This online friend thing had spiraled into something deeper, probably long before he even realized it. She became the highlight of his day, her messages and updates. He smiled every time TeenTalk alerted him. He hadn't even bothered looking at many of his other friend requests. Why? He had _her_ friendship.

And judging from the way she responded to his messages he might just end up getting more.

Grover peered over. "Dude, **stop** thinking about her for a minute."

Percy shrugged. "I'm trying."

Grover frowned. "I'm worried about you, man. Will is worried too. You're letting this TeenTalk thing get in the way too much."

Percy's eyebrows drew together and he huffed. "Whatever,"

"Seriously, dude-" Grover continued, "-you ran yourself ragged this year. Taking all those shifts at Dionysus's bar when the both of you knew it was illegal for a half-timer to work so much, a teenager moreso. I know it wasn't just for the road trip money. You wanted a little extra to make sure we'd have enough to stop by and see that girl. Take her out, whatever."

"So what, Grover?" Percy insisted. "She makes me happy. I was _happy_ to run myself ragged."

Grover shook his head turning back to the road once more. "Percy, that sophomore girl asked you out right before school ended. What did you tell her?"

"I told her no," Percy mumbled.

"And _why_ did you tell her no? She was cute, nice, and it's not like you're dating anyone. Why'd you tell her no?" Grover inquired, not really asking to know. He already knew where this was going.

Percy lowered his eyes. "I told her no because…because of Clarisse."

Grover nodded triumphantly. "Exactly. You told a real life girl- not some unknown on a social media app, but a living, breathing girl- you told her no because of someone on TeenTalk who may or may not exist."

"She is real, Grover!"

"Yeah? Have you talked on the phone with her? Have you webcammed with her? Seen her face in real time? No, you haven't."

"Her…her parents don't want her calling guys. And she doesn't have a webcam-"

"-She could be lying to you, Percy! Have you ever thought about that? It could all be some big set up. You're putting yourself on the back burner for some girl that might not even be real. You're my buddy and I know how much the TeenTalk thing means to you, but I'm looking out for you."

He tried to ignore Percy's infuriated expression.

"Juniper could be fake, too," Percy insisted. "You still want us to stop and see her. Will's guy, who is it- Nico? He could be fake! None of them might be real, but I'm not constantly getting on you guys about it!"

Grover's voice came out steady and calm. "My TeenTalk situation is different from yours. Juniper and I have webcammed. We've spoken on the phone. I've had her write her name and the date in real time on the webcam to prove things, and she did the same with me. I know she's real because I did the background checks. Will has seen Nico's other accounts on video and music sites. It's the same kid on all of them. Will did his own investigating. You didn't."

Percy sighed, reclining. "Why don't you want me to be happy?"

Grover gripped Percy's arm in reassurance. "It's not about that. I want this TeenTalk girl to be real too, for your sake. I do want you to be happy, Percy. I just don't want this to end up weird or awkward. I don't want anyone hurting you."

Percy snorted. "I'm not gonna' 'get hurt'. I'll be fine. Even if she isn't real, it's not that big of a deal. I'm just happy to be roadtripping, dude."

Grover smiled at that and seemed to relax, turning on the soft rock radio.

Percy gazed out at the dark expanse.

Even if it _was_ fake, it wasn't a big deal. Sure. No problem. He could deal.

But it wasn't fake.

* * *

Clarisse eyed the outfit warily. "That's not my style."

Her teammates wandered throughout the corners of the swimsuit store, browsing through the colorful selections. Drew stepped closer towards the taller girl. It wasn't every day Clarisse asked for fashion advice…much less beach fashion advice!

"But the color would look nice on you! I have never ever see you in that shade of green."

Clarisse stepped back from the display. "It looks like puke green."

Drew sighed. "It looks like jade green and you know it. Or maybe you don't. You're not that fashion-savvy are you? If it was up to you you'd probably wear a long sleeve swim shirt and some ratty boxer shorts."

Clarisse didn't say anything. She _would_ wear that. What was wrong with that outfit?

Drew read her thoughts. "You shouldn't wear stuff that covers you up so much. You have really broad shoulders and nice arms, so show them off! If you cover it all up you look like a femme-hulk."

Clarisse shrugged. What did it matter what she showed? No one wanted to see her body anyways. "Maybe I am a femme-hulk."

Drew frowned. "Clarisse, I know I tease you and all but self deprecation isn't fitting on you."

Clarisse waved her off. "It's not self deprication. It's true. I'm bigger than the entire team put together. I already show in crowds. Why show more? It doesn't bother me anyways."

Drew smirked. "Sure it doesn't," before sauntering over to Annabeth and a group of others.

"Ooh!" Drew squealed, "Annabeth that color is just gorgeous with you hair!"

Clarisse looked at them all gushing over the swimsuit and Annabeth heading towards the dressing room with a few others to try things on.

A bout of loneliness erupted within Clarisse, but nothing worse than what she was already used to.

She knew the quick fix for loneliness! Pulling out her phone, she opened the TeenTalk messaging app and sent a quick message to Percy.

_**Clarisse La Rue** : Hey…which swimsuit do you like better?_

She then took a picture of the green swimsuit Drew pointed out for her and the blue one the team loved on Annabeth. She sent both pictures and waited.

_**Percy J** : The blue one. Blue's my favorite color._

Clarisse smirked. Of course she already knew that. Percy had sent her countless pictures from his swim championship party his mom threw for him and his friends. There had been blue streamers, blue cake, blue party hats, blue everything. Though he often sent her pictures of him and his outings with his friends when she asked for them, she rarely sent her own. Annabeth didn't post many pictures up on her social media profiles besides the occasional gym or beach picture. There were a few of her at political rallies or academic club competitions, but Clarisse didn't know anything about those things and didn't want to risk Percy asking questions.

Clarisse imagined the bikini on herself.

She didn't see the appeal of the green. Drew said it was a better color for her...but Percy liked blue. Sure, it wasn't like he was ever going to see it on her but it made her feel kind of good that she knew something that others didn't know about a guy like Percy.

She could fill it out well. Puberty was looking up for her as Clarisse's height increased and her bulk spread amongst her body. Just this year she had grown two inches! She was 5 feet eleven inches now, and the fact made her incredibly proud despite the increased teasing. Her muscles were taut and leaner now and her stomach was hard with muscle. A bikini wouldn't look half as bad on her these days now that she was shaped more like an hourglass and less like a fridge. Maybe…

Her phone pinged.

_**Percy J** : That shade would look good with blonde hair._

Clarisse paused.

_'Oh.'_

He was thinking about Annabeth's image, not hers. Clarisse clenched her fist before putting her hands in her pockets.

She couldn't blame him. She was the one that had put up that dumb picture in the first place. Sometimes she forgot that Percy wasn't really picturing her when they spoke, but Annabeth.

What did that matter though? The words were hers. The stories were hers. The only thing she lied about was her appearance. Percy could have very well lied about his own looks as well, but Clarisse knew it was him because of the timestamps on photos he sent her and the overall feel of his TeenTalk profile. You could just tell that it was a real teenage guy online, nothing fake.

She wondered if he would like the real Annabeth more than the real her.

Maybe.

_**Clarisse La Rue** : I guess. I'm going to buy it._

_**Percy J** : Cool. I'm going to hop out of passenger seat and drive now, so I can't text until later._

_**Clarisse La Rue** : Alright. Stay safe knucklehead._

_**Percy J** : Whatever you say :)_

Clarisse looked around to see if anyone was looking before pulling the blue bikini off the rack. She found her size, a large, and headed for the register to buy it.

Percy hadn't been able to text as much as usual lately. She knew he was roadtripping with his friends from New York.

She didn't ask him if he were coming to visit her in California again so as to not raise suspicion about the issue. Besides, he had already told her he didn't want to "get her in trouble". Yeah, the story about her parents getting upset was total bull, but what else could she say?

She just hoped he was staying safe. She knew his friends liked to goof around from his various stories about them and hoped they wouldn't distract each other from watching the road.

"Will that be all?" The cashier inquired politely.

"Yeah," Clarisse nodded, scratching at the side of her face.

The cashier handed over her swimsuit in a bag. "That's a bestseller, that one. You'll look great. I have the same one in red and pink. You should get one in green too, it looks great on brunettes!"

Clarisse frowned. "Blue's fine, thanks," before turning and heading back towards her teammates.

Annabeth's arm reached from behind a clothing rack and clapped a hand on Clarisse's shoulder before directing her away from the others. Clarisse tried to pretend like the minor action didn't scare the daylights out of her.

"Hey," Annabeth began, "why are you avoiding me?"

Straight to the point, huh? Chase never tiptoed around anything, that's for sure.

"I haven't," Clarisse insisted. She shrugged the hand away.

Annabeth crossed her arms and a hip jutted out to the side sassily. "Did I do or say something to upset you?"

"I don't get upset," Clarisse smirked, "I get angry. If you did something to tick me off, trust me, you'd know."

"Lower your defenses," Annabeth said softer, "I'm not trying to single you out. I just want to know what's going on between us."

"Nothing!" Clarisse grumbled, "Nothing's going on between us."

"Then why won't you look me in the eye anymore? Why do you go out of your way to avoid me?"

Clarisse's hands began to sweat as she rushed for an answer. "You're reading too far into stuff. I'm not avoiding you. If I were mad at you, I'd tell you to your face."

"That's just the thing, Clarisse. I don't think you're mad. I think you're nervous. I think you're hiding something from me."

Clarisse couldn't help but freeze.

_'Damn.'_

"You think a lot of stuff, don't you? Leave me alone Chase, or there'll be a real problem between us." Clarisse spat before turning. Annabeth pulled her back.

"You don't scare me, La Rue. And I'm going to find out what you're hiding." Annabeth stated in a confident tone, her steely eyes peering up at Clarisse.

Clarisse almost wanted to whine at the unfairness of it all. Why did she pick the smartest girl in the county to impersonate? "Annabeth, why does this matter so much to you? I'm not bothering you or anyone else. Just leave me alone."

"What you're hiding involves me, correct?"

Clarisse hated how she could feel her expression give her away. Annabeth nodded mutely in confirmation to herself.

"I'm a curious person. Particularly about things that involve me. You don't have to tell me now but I'll figure it out sooner or later."

Annabeth leaned over and delicately peered into Clarisse's shopping bag, pretending not to notice how tightly the larger girl was clasping it with white knuckles. "That's a pretty bikini. I bought the same one. Luckily we're not the kind of girls to obsess over whether someone else is wearing the same thing or not, right?"

Clarisse grit her teeth so hard she thought her jaw would splinter.

"Right, Clarisse?" Annabeth repeated, glancing at the trembling fists before meeting Clarisse's gaze intently.

"…Right." Clarisse agreed stiffly.

Annabeth smiled cooly without a trace of mischief or ill intent. "Well, see you at the beach party then. We'll match."

She walked away but Clarisse couldn't seem to uncoil the tension set inside of her.

She was in a mouse trap now. If she made the wrong move, it would spring shut and her secrets would ricochet out of her. Annabeth Chase would watch it all from above with a magnifying glass and those dissecting grey eyes.

* * *

A day of driving had passed. Percy, Will, and Grover were in California.

Meeting Juniper Meadows and Nico Di Angelo was kind of surreal.

The two kids had lived so close to one another that they had met up themselves at Juniper's place before Percy's gang had driven into their neighborhood.

Percy drove until he found the address that Juniper had texted Grover, who had relayed it back to Percy. The house was modest and covered from head to toe in vegetation. With potted plants out front, flowers lining up the yard, vines curling up and around windowsills, it was a fairytale setting.

Percy honked his car horn impatiently.

"Dude!" Grover yelped, smacking Percy's arm. "Ring the doorbell first! Juniper's a _lady._ "

Percy's jaw dropped. "Are you serious? You're totally nervous right now."

Grover was too focused outside the window to comment.

Percy turned.

Long brown hair gathered in the breeze as a slender girl in a green maxi dress and sandals came down the steps of the house. The crown of her head was adorned in a flower wreath and she smiled brightly at the boys. The petals from her flower crown fell against another boy trailing behind her, looking less gleeful and dressed in darker clothing.

Stepping out of his car, Percy couldn't help but smile at the look on Grover's face. Before he knew it Grover and Juniper had raced at one another unabashedly, hugging tightly.

"Grover! You made it!" she squealed.

"I know, I know!" he squealed back, spinning her around a little.

Nico kept looking between his shoes and Will with colored cheeks. Will made the first move and stepped forward first, smiling brightly.

"Hey! It feels weird to see you in person finally," he offered, acknowledging the air of awkwardness around them. Breaking the ice with Nico seemed like it would be a little harder than normal.

The smaller boy shrugged. "Tell me about it," he murmured.

Will stepped even closer and picked a flower petal off of Nico's hair, dropping it on the ground. "Sorry," he said, not really sorry at all, "flowers don't seem to be your thing. Band shirts are okay though, right?"

The tension in Nico's face seemed to flee as he chuckled at the fallen petal. "Yeah."

Will smirked. "Great! Cause' I was able to score a bit of merch from the Hounds of Hades concert back in NY. I think you're going to like your present."

Nico's eyes widened. "The Hounds of Hades? Those guys never tour in America…but you got their merch? For…me?"

Will gestured for the now-enthusiastic Nico to follow him to Percy's car. He reached in the backseat for the gift.

Percy watched his two friends meet and greet with their online buddies, conveniently not mentioning anything about Grover's lack of ability to keep it cool the entire trip at the thought of Juniper or the actual lengths Will actually went to get that band stuff for Nico.

They all seemed really happy. There were barely any pauses in the conversations because it seemed as if they all had already known each other.

And they had! They got to know each other through TeenTalk. Only one more online penpal to go…

Clarisse had off-handedly mentioned a few team bonding events and Percy had jotted down the dates. She was having a beach day with some other basketball teammates today. Percy would hang out here with Juniper and Nico before they all drove down to the beach, looking for Clarisse.

Grover and Will had suggested they attend the beach event, so as not to freak anyone out. Not only would Clarisse's parents definitely not be there to see her around any boys, but the setting was perfect.

On a beach Percy and the gang could blend in with everyone else around them. He could find Clarisse somewhere within a group of girls on the shore and then approach her without looking too strange. Grover, Will, Juniper, and Nico could all hang back sipping drinks under and umbrella or splash in the ocean. Maybe they would eat at a diner nearby, whatever. The point was that they would have fun of their own, leaving Percy out of the spotlight.

They wanted to give him space for his own meeting with his online penal and he knew why. Grover and Will didn't think that Percy's was going to go well. They didn't want him to feel embarrassed.

He smirked to himself. Wait until they realized all their caution was for nothing!

"C'mon Percy," Grover called as he helped Juniper into the car, "lets hit the beach!"

* * *

The sun was shining down strongly on the sands. Heat simmered and water flew as countless people were splashing in the waves, letting loose and having fun.

Clarisse curled in on herself.

The beach umbrella loomed over her and shadowed her skin from the sun's rays as she tried to slather on more sunscreen without showing too much of herself. The blue bikini she had bought was making it hard to hide though, and she was beginning to regret the purchase.

She frowned at her reddened skin. Weak! It was so lame how she burned so easily. Turning her gaze out towards her teammates building sandcastles on the beach Clarisse's frown deepened. Annabeth was working steadily on her sand castle amongst some other girls, warding off another guy for the fifth time. Lord knows how many had already approached her since the team reached the beach! Annabeth's pretty tan glistened in the sun as her blonde hair cascaded down her back in the breeze. Her body was lithe and firm. The blue bikini was the perfect look for her.

Clarisse looked down at herself. The shade of blue just didn't look right against her pale skin. How could she have thought it would have looked nice on her? Maybe the puke-green bikini had been a better choice. Or maybe a one piece swimsuit. Or maybe a trash bag. The less that was showing, the better. There wasn't much to see, she was all muscle anyway. Guys didn't want someone buffer than they were, right?

She had brought along some swimming shorts and a long sleeved t-shirt to cover up but her teammates insisted that she remain in the bikini and let loose a little.

Clarisse had been building castles right alongside them until her skin started to burn under the sunlight. She retreated to the shade of the umbrella for a break.

Resting her arms on her knees she stared at the sand. Building sandcastles had been weird. Next to all the other girls, Clarisse felt so large. She was so much taller and bulkier than the rest. She used to pride in that before she realized it was a turn-off for most guys, and she wouldn't have even cared about that if it hadn't been for the fact that she liked guys in the first place. To be honest, before high school and Chris Clarisse didn't know if she was romantically attracted to anyone, or if she was even capable of it.

Clarisse got a sudden the itch to destroy the sandcastles for fun, but she was getting along with her teammates and she didn't want to mess that up. They had just started getting comfortable around her.

Earlier in the year many of the girls seemed hesitant to interact with her, and not just because of her infamous temper. Clarisse felt it was something that ran a little deeper. Maybe it was because she was so much larger than everyone or because she didn't like the same things they liked? She didn't know much about makeup or clothes or flirting. She hadn't been to a lot of sleepovers or parties. Her life was a series of sports games, auto shows, and shooting ranges with her father.

Clarisse rustled through her beach bag and checked her phone. No messages from Percy yet. She wondered if he was enjoying California with his friends?

Nearby teammates had begun noticing Clarisse avidly texting someone over the last couple of months. Many had approached her curiously, only to get snapped at. Clarisse knew they were just excited to see her interacting with boys in ways other than fist fights. Drew had already old half the team about "Clarisse's new mystery lover". Most of the girls on the team had originally suspected that Clarisse was a lesbian, but upon the discovery of mystery-phone-guy many girls were wondering what kind of guy La Rue liked.

 _'Well, keep wondering_ ,' Clarisse thought. She wasn't telling anyone a thing about Percy. The boy was her own secret that she would safeguard. Percy made her feel good and she didn't want anyone else messing that up for her.

Clarisse's phone beeped.

_**Percy J** : Its pretty hot here_

_**Clarisse La Rue** : Of course it is, doofus. It's the west coast._

_**Percy J** : Ha, true. You're at the beach with your friends today?_

Clarisse gave a small smile. Percy never took her taunts or name calling too seriously. It was like he could see right through her.

_**Clarisse La Rue** : Yeah. Team bonding and all that._

_**Percy J** : Are you wearing that blue bikini? The one from the last pic you sent me?_

Clarisse cleared her throat and tried to fight the warm feeling in her stomach away.

_**Clarisse La Rue** : Maybe. What's it to you?_

_**Percy J** : Seriously, are you wearing it?_

_**Clarisse La Rue** : Yes. Why?_

_**Percy J** : I think I see you._

Clarisse rarely felt fear. It was almost foreign to her.

Now, she understood the feeling perfectly. It was suddenly washing over her like high tide, sinking into her bones.

Percy was here on the beach.

He was looking for her…no, not _her_. The fake 'her'. Her profile picture!

Clarisse glanced over at Annabeth before roving her gaze across the beach. She didn't see anyone that looked like Percy approaching. Still…

Jumping up and jostling the beach umbrella, Clarisse jogged over to Annabeth, her mind racing.

Her foot crashed into the side of Annabeth's sand castle and sprayed debris everywhere. The girls nearby squealed as Annabeth frowned slightly.

"Clarisse," she stated disappointedly, "that was my replica of the Acropolis. You knocked over all the arches. Do you know how hard it is to build arches out of sand?"

With a quickening heart rate, Clarisse swallowed dryly while glancing around. "I, uh- oops? I can make it up to you! Let's uh…get you ice cream. How about mint chocolate chip? I'll buy, y'know, for knocking your sand castle over."

"It's citadel, technically, not a sand castle. And I hate mint-"

"Fine, no mint, whatever just come on."

Clarisse gripped Annabeth's arm tightly before pulling her away from the sand activities. The other teammates watched the two girls speed away before retuning to their activities.

Clarisse held on tightly to the blonde as her nerves wracked.

Could Percy see them right now? Or had he seen someone else? Was he at the same beach as they were? Why? Was he looking for her or just hanging out with his friends and happened to see her? But wait, he wasn't really seeing her. If he was looking for anyone, he'd be looking for Annabeth because Annabeth was Clarisse's profile picture on TeenTalk!

This was so messed up.

Stepping off the beach and over onto the boardwalk, Clarisse steered Annabeth over to an ice cream stall, panting.

At least they were off the beach. Percy couldn't find them if they weren't on the beach.

"Clarisse, ow," Annabeth said pointedly as she pulled her arm away, "relax! It's not that serious. It was just a sand citadel. I can easily build another. I was actually thinking of a few renovations for it on the way over here, so I'm glad you knocked it down because my cornices were starting to look pretty unstable-"

Clarisse groaned, raking a hand through her disheveled hair. "I don't care about your stupid sand castle, Annabeth!"

The blonde looked unimpressed. " _'Citadel'_. And if you don't care then why did you offer to buy me ice cream to make up for smashing it down?"

Clarisse began to gnash her teeth, glancing around once more. This had gone way too far. She didn't want to but if she was going to fess up she may as well do it now. "It's not- look Annabeth, there's something I've gotta' tell you-"

Annabeth nodded. "Of course. You've been hiding something from me for months. I'm not stupid. But first, tell me why you were in such a rush that you smashed my citadel and why you're so insistent on getting me ice cream. You forgot your purse down on the beach. If you wanted ice cream for yourself all you had to do was ask and I would have come with you to get it so you weren't alone. I don't even like ice cream that much."

"I do."

Both girls jumped before turning towards the boy who spoke.

Percy smiled brightly at them before narrowing his gaze on Annabeth. "I thought you liked mint chocolate chip, Clarisse? That's what you always said on TeenTalk, anyways."

Annabeth stared at Clarisse blankly before turning back to the boy on the boardwalk. "Excuse me?"

"Don't you remember? You're always talking about that ice cream flavor when we text."

Annabeth's eyebrow quirked. "I…we haven't met before."

"No, not until today." The smile on Percy's face softened as he glanced nervously away from Annabeth, pushing his hands into his pockets. "I know this is pretty sudden and you said you didn't want to meet up, but that was only because you didn't want your folks to know, right? I figured they wouldn't find out if I met you like this."

Annabeth said nothing as Percy continued on, oblivious. "I hope this doesn't freak you out or anything Clarisse- if me being here hasn't freaked you out enough already- but I…I'm really glad to meet you finally. I've been thinking about this for a while."

Annabeth's brows elevated even higher. "Clarisse?" she questioned, pointing at herself.

Percy nodded vigorously, unable to keep the smile off his face. "Y-yeah. It's kind of funny, my friends were so worried about this meet up but you…you look just like the profile pictures. Even better."

Clarisse- the real Clarisse- summoned every fiber in her to run away but she couldn't. She couldn't even look away and she wanted to. She wanted to so _badly._ This was worse than anything she could have imagined.

All she could do was grip onto her hair and watch with wide, fearful eyes as her TeenTalk crush gushed over the wrong girl.

Annabeth glanced between the two and as the pause in the conversation lengthened with each second, recognition began to fill her grey eyes. Percy's smile slowly fell away and confusion took its place.

"I…are you upset? Did I do something wrong?" Percy asked, stepping forward. Annabeth stepped away and hurt flashed across his face.

Clarisse winced. Poor guy didn't know any better.

Annabeth seemed to have finally gathered her thoughts before turning her entire body away from Clarisse and towards Percy, sympathy shining in her eyes.

Clarisse felt cold.

"I think I understand what's going on. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this-" she said in an apologetic tone, "-but I don't know you. I've never messaged you before today. I don't recognize you, even now. I don't use TeenTalk."

All the emotions on Percy's face slid away as the blonde continued on.

"I'm not 'Clarisse'. My name is Annabeth. She's Clarisse." She gestured towards the brunette who was focusing hard at some rocks on the ground.

Clarisse knew it was wrong, but in that moment she wished Annabeth Chase never existed. A nonexistent Annabeth couldn't speak or say anything else damning about her. A nonexistant Annabeth wouldn't figure out her ruse so quickly on to leave her there to face the brunt of what she had done.

In her peripheral vision, Clarisse saw the blonde pause. Clarisse fought to keep her teeth from grinding into fractures. _'Just leave blondie. You've done enough.'_

"I don't know if it will help or mean anything to you, but…I'm sorry." Annabeth offered before taking her leave.

Clarisse let her eyes slide closed as the footsteps left out of earshot.

Just him and her now.

It was a while before someone spoke. Clarisse somehow knew he was waiting for her to say something but she didn't think she could get the words out right now. Still, she owed him. God, how she owed him now.

She opened her eyes and immediately regretted it.

Percy's mouth hung agape as he glanced at the retreating blonde before focusing on Clarisse. He looked as if he were suspended in a state of disbelief, unable to process what was going on.

"I…" she began, the words slowly knitting themselves together, "…I didn't mean to trick you. You weren't supposed to actually meet me in person."

His brows furrowed deeper together and he lowered his eyes, face darkening. He began to look everywhere but at her, crossing his arms self-consciously and shaking his head to himself. Clarisse felt her throat tighten and tried to fix things even though she knew they were beyond that point.

"I'm not saying that this is your fault but...I told you not to come here for a reason. I just…we weren't supposed to meet!"

He raised his hand tiredly and never had Clarisse stopped speaking so fast at one gesture. She felt powerless, hyper observant on everything about Percy and how he was reacting to this.

"Who are you?" The boy's question sounded more like an accusation.

The words started to pour out of her, too eager to please. "I-I'm Clarisse La Rue. I'm seventeen years old like you. I play basketball and volleyball. I live here. I like chocolate chip mint ice cream and I use TeenTalk and everything I told you before was true-"

"Are you the one I've been talking to? This entire time?"

For some reason, anger bubbled within her. Why was his tone getting so snippy with her? So what she didn't look like Annabeth? That was no reason to talk to her like that.

"Yes. And I didn't lie to you about anything else besides how I looked-"

He laughed without mirth, counting on his fingers with an anger stronger than hers. "Oh really? Not having a webcam? Your parents not wanting you to talk to boys? Not being able to talk on the phone? You weren't lying about those things? Why should I believe a word you say?"

Clarisse inhaled shakily and tried to hold onto her temper. "Those weren't bad lies. I only really lied about how I looked. Clearly, you just saw the girl I was pretending to be. She is on my team. My actual basketball team from my actual school in my actual town. Everything else I told you was true."

Percy shook his head. "When you put up someone else as your profile picture, everything from that point on was a lie. Is your name even Clarisse?"

Clarisse threw her hands in the air, frustrated. "I just told you it was! I told you everything. I told you things no one else even knows about me. That was true, it was all true!"

Percy's eyes widened. "You keep saying it was all true, but clearly that's not the case. I'm so stupid…what teenage girl can't call on a phone or use a webcam? I believed every single lie you told-"

"-They weren't all lies! And so what if a few were? You wouldn't have even spoken to me if I used my real picture, you and I know it!"

"No we don't," Percy yelled, borderline erratic, "neither of us will ever know if I would have responded to you with your real picture because you never used your real picture! You used a fake!"

Clarisse stepped back feeling defensive. "Well what do you want me to say now? What can I tell you now that you would believe?"

Percy crowded in on her, anger coursing through him. She had wasted so much of his time, his energy. "An apology would be awesome. 'Gee, sorry Percy for making you drive across the country to see me when I'm not actually who you've been talking to this entire time'. Or maybe, 'sorry for making you work part-time the entire year, excited to see some girl who doesn't exist'. You could try, 'Sorry for making you look like a massive dumbass in front of your friends who have real TeenTalk friends'. Or even-"

"I _am_ real." Clarisse insisted with a shaky voice, "I'm right here! I'm still the same girl you've been talking to the last couple of months, nothing's changed!"

"You still can't apologize."

Clarisse bit her lip. Why should she? "I didn't do anything wrong. I did it because I knew you wouldn't talk to me if I had used a real picture. See? You're mad right now because I don't look like Annabeth, aren't you? You're mad I'm not some perfect, little, blonde princess-"

"-I'm mad right now because you lied to me for nearly a _year._ You lied about who you were. You strung me along."

Clarisse could feel her eyes begin to sting. "I didn't tell you to come see me in person. I didn't tell you to drive down here or anything."

Percy stepped back, his voice suddenly quiet.

"You're right."

Clarisse paused. "Huh?"

"You're right. You didn't tell me to come down here. You didn't tell me to text you every day. You didn't tell me to believe in you. But I did. I did trusted you and that's my fault."

Clarisse lowered her head, ashamed. Percy leaned down with her, coldly looking her straight in the eyes. "But you know what? At least I can admit I was wrong. I can admit I was stupid. You didn't tell me the truth and you can't even give me a measly 'sorry' for it. The girl you _pretended to be_ apologized to me before you did, and she has nothing to be sorry for!"

Clarisse felt her cheeks wetten. She hadn't felt that in a long time and tried to make up for the weakness by matching Percy's gaze. He was so much more attractive in person and she hated how that made her feel right now in this vulnerable moment, or that she even still cared about him after how he was talking to her.

"I'm sorry," she tried, her voice struggling. "I don't say that a lot to people, but I am. I'm sorry Percy and I'm telling the truth right now."

Percy watched her eyes redden and her nose run before sighing to himself. "'Now' is kinda' late, Clarisse. Or do you go by 'Annabeth', now? 'Liar' would be more accurate. 'Imposter'? Whoever you're pretending to be today, I guess."

Clarisse hated how she couldn't come up with anything to say back, hated how could only furiously wipe at the nonstop tears coming from her dumb eyes. He was talking to her like she was nothing, like she was beneath him somehow. Oh how she _hated_ him. Him and Annabeth. Him and Annabeth and everyone else in that dumb town! She could hear her subconscious running like a motor, unable to stop the mental chanting. It was like her mind was going haywire.

_'I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry'_

"…What a waste of gas."

Clarisse bit her lip and tightened hands over her face at his words, struggling not to punch something, someone, him specifically. The waterworks were going stronger than ever.

Screw him. She never told him to take the trip down here and see her! She told him not to!

Percy stared at her intently before having to look away. He was getting way too angry way too fast. He didn't like seeing the girl before him fall apart the way she was, but he disliked being made a fool of even more.

"I hate you," Clarisse croaked tiredly at him, without venom or true conviction. "It's not my fault you were dumb enough to believe a profile picture. I wish you had just stayed in New York."

He turned slightly. "I kind of wish the same. I liked you, you know. It would have been nice to keep pretending you actually cared."

_'I did care. I still care!'_

"...And it's not me that you hate."

Clarisse looked up at that, too wrecked to ask.

Percy smiled an empty smile, looking back at the large, shaken girl.

"I think we both know who you really hate. Have a nice life, 'catfish'. Lose my number."

Clarisse didn't stop him from leaving.

Percy walked faster down the boardwalk. He didn't want to call her by her name. He refused.

To call her by her name was to humanize her, to give her a face and feelings. She didn't deserve that, not after the way she made him feel. Because as calm as he appeared Percy was hurting more than ever right now. If he called her by her name she held power over him again, and Percy's pain would increase because she'd become real...and...and...

How could she do this to him? He was so embarrassed! Walking up to that blonde- who was it, Annabeth?- like she had actually been talking to him all year...having her tell him she didn't know him...telling him he'd been dreaming about someone that wasn't real, talking to a fraud...All those wasted nights texting and messaging, all those girls he rejected, all those hours working, all those dreams about them together...

His eyes burned. Percy ran into a beach bathroom and shut himself into a stall before the tears came.

He buried his face into his hands, hating how weak the betrayal made him feel.

She had ruined him.

But only because he let her.


End file.
